COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONThe top product from the Rochefort Trappist brewery. Dark color, full and very impressive taste. Strong plum, raisin, and black currant palate, with ascending notes of vinousness and other complexities.

What a brilliant beer! Dark brown with a two finger light brown head. Aroma of dark fruit and caramel. Sweet taste with very little bitterness. Nice warmth from the alcohol.
---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

330ml bottle. Purchased fall of 2013, and in the cellar since then. Pours a very murky garnet colour with LOTS of visible floating sediment that is literally churning as the carbonation rises into a fluffy beige head. It doesn’t look bad, but the living sediment does make me think, "Mmm...delicious". Smells great though. Lots of notes that remind me of European bitters (Amaro’s, Jagermeister, etc.) with faint red licorice, light honey, light molasses candy, chamomile, and a faint trace of eucalyptus. Taste wise, a lot of candy like notes with some considerable alcohol given it’s age, more red licorice, light molasses, raisin, and again "Original Ricola" that heads into some caramel malt notes, light bitterness, a Fisherman’s Friend like note, light rye crisp, graphite, and some light sourness in the finish. Believe me, there are more things I could probably describe if I had the time, but I don’t. This is the real deal. Looking forward to my 2014 bottle.

Originally reviewed on 9/14/2011. 330 mL bottle poured into a chalice. Bottled 2/16/2011. Murky brown body that has the slightest red tint to it. You can’t see much through it, though. A surprising khaki head on top that seems to die down and come back to life every time I move the beer. The lacing is substantial and also fascinating to watch. The swirling patterns are like Rorschach tests. Yeasty aromas that manifest themselves as bananas. Lots of dark fruits of every variety. Amazingly complex and delightful aroma, perhaps a bit overpowered by booze. The flavors that come across are just amazing. Raisins, plums, figs, and an estery banana flavor to bundle them all together. Again, the booze is prevalent, but it’s nice. There’s even a slight bitterness at the end and I don’t know where it comes from.
Full bodied and warming. The alcohol burn is present, but still appropriate. It’s a little bit dry in the finish.
Outstanding, save a bit of excessive alcohol burn.

12oz bottle into chalice. What more can be said of this monster? Rich, bold, complex and delicious. Full-on plum, currant, and dried fruits; viscous palate. Warming without being boozy. Comes in and out of circulation in town; never sure if, when it disappears, more will ever show up in town. Oh, to have an infinite cellar of it...

Dark brown with a nice tan head, good retention. Nose is figs, raisins, caramel, toffee, marzipan, yeast esters. Flavour is so well balanced, notes of banana, dark fruits, sweet malts, brown sugar, bubblegum. Slight hint of alcohol, but for the abv it’s really well hidden. One of the best.

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